Ministral 14B vs Ministral 3 8B vs Rnj-1 Instruct
Ministral 3 8B comes out ahead, 68 to 63 and 50 on our weighted score.
Mistral AIMinistral 14B
63/100- ECI—
- Price$0.175 / $0.175
- Context262K
- Our pickMistral AI
Ministral 3 8B
68/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context262K
Essential AI
Rnj-1 Instruct
50/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
Ministral 3 8B is our pick
Ministral 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Ministral 14B (63) and Rnj-1 Instruct (50). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceMinistral 3 8B and Rnj-1 InstructMinistral 3 8B $0.15 · Rnj-1 Instruct $0.15 · Ministral 14B $0.175 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMinistral 14B and Ministral 3 8BMinistral 14B 262,144 · Ministral 3 8B 262,144 · Rnj-1 Instruct 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsMinistral 14B and Ministral 3 8BMinistral 14B: Text, Images · Ministral 3 8B: Text, Images · Rnj-1 Instruct: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Ministral 14B | Ministral 3 8B | Rnj-1 Instruct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 82 | 85 | 85 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 50 | 60 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 63/100 | 68/100 | 50/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Ministral 14BMistral AI | Ministral 3 8BMistral AI | Rnj-1 InstructEssential AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.175 | $0.15 (best) | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $0.175 | $0.15 (best) | $0.15 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.015 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 | $0.15 (best) | $0.15 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 2 providers | Official Mistral API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenApache-2.0 | OpenApache 2.0 | OpenApache 2.0 |
| API model ID | — | ministral-8b-2512 | — |
| API providers | 2 | 11 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 4, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Ministral 14B$2.10
- Ministral 3 8B$1.80
- Rnj-1 Instruct$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Ministral 14B, Ministral 3 8B or Rnj-1 Instruct?
Ministral 3 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Ministral 14B (63) and Rnj-1 Instruct (50). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Ministral 14B, Ministral 3 8B or Rnj-1 Instruct?
Ministral 3 8B is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). Rnj-1 Instruct costs $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Ministral 14B costs $0.175 input / $0.175 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for Ministral 3 8B versus $0.15 for Rnj-1 Instruct (1× as much) and $0.175 for Ministral 14B (1.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Ministral 14B has not been scored yet, Ministral 3 8B has not been scored yet and Rnj-1 Instruct has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Ministral 14B, Ministral 3 8B and Rnj-1 Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Ministral 14B and Ministral 3 8B have the largest context windows (262,144 and 262,144 tokens), against 32,768 for Rnj-1 Instruct. Maximum output per response: Ministral 14B up to 262,144, Ministral 3 8B up to 262,144, Rnj-1 Instruct up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Ministral 14B accepts text and images; Ministral 3 8B accepts text and images; Rnj-1 Instruct accepts text. Ministral 14B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, all three publish their weights (Apache-2.0 and Apache 2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Rnj-1 Instruct is the newest, released Dec 4, 2025. Ministral 14B came out Dec 2, 2025; Ministral 3 8B came out Dec 2, 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
